Finally a Solution to Brexit! German Economists Know How to Break the Deadlock

While both parties in the ongoing Brexit negotiations have refused so far to let go of their ‘red lines' and the extension of Article 50 seems an unlikely prospect, a new model for the EU-UK relationship has been set forward.

A group of German economists have argued that creation of a new form of partnership — specifically a newly created European Customs Association (ECA) between Britain and the EU — would break the Brexit deadlock and successfully steer them away from the no-deal scenario.

'Hard Brexit ahead: breaking the deadlock' paper suggested a "politically feasible approach" that would see creation of a space with common external trade policy, where Britain would be a full and active participants as opposed to a rule-taker.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, greets British Prime Minister Theresa May during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018.

This is an agreement which links the European Customs Union (as it currently exists) to the customs territory of the UK, creating a space with a common external trade policy and giving the UK full and active participation instead of merely being a rule-taker. This minimizes the risk of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and is economically advantageous for both the EU and the UK.

"Issues beyond those covered by the ECA, i.e. policy areas other than trade in goods, should be dealt with in the Withdrawal Agreement as already agreed. The ECA should 4 cover areas related to trade in goods that are currently falling under the exclusive competence of the EU in Brussels. The permanent nature of the ECA does away with the need for a backstop," German economists argued.

However, the model would require sacrifices on both sides of the Channel. Namely, Westminster would at least partially, forego trade policy autonomy and accept a dispute settlement mechanism related to the ECA. Brussels would have to relax its "four freedoms" dogma, allowing Britain to participate in product market integration but allowing London to make own decisions on the freedom of movement of people.

Britain permanently delegates all trade policy matters in goods to a newly created European Customs Association (ECA) in which the EU (and, why not, Turkey) is also a member, while neither EU nor the UK pursue independent trade policies, and the ECA represents them equally at the World Trade Organization (WTO)

ECA covers all "classical" areas of trade policy, such as tariffs, quotas, rules of origin, trade defense, et cetera. On these issues, the EU has exclusive competence.

Areas in which the EU has no exclusive competence and in which countries have veto rights (trade in services, intellectual property, direct foreign investment, audiovisual and cultural services, and social, educational and health services), should not fall under the ECA

The outlined vision would certainly trigger objection on the part of hardcore Brexiteers within the UK Parliament who argue that complete independence from the EU states is ultimately what the British public voted for in the 2016 referendum.

A combination of picture created in London on November 25, 2018 shows Conservative MPs (L) opposed to the Brexit withdrawl deal negotiated with EU by prime minister Theresa May (R), (top L-R) Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the Euro-sceptic European Research Group (ERG), and former prominent cabinet ministers David Davis and Boris Johnson who support the ERG's opposition to the deal and remain-supporting Conservative MPs (bottom L-R) Justine Greening, Dominic Grieve and Jo Johnson all pictured in London.

Even more lenient Conservative MPs could point out that inclusion of Turkey in this new form of economic partnership is not acceptable for Britain, whose leadership said on numerous occasions it was confident in independently securing Free-Trade Agreements (FTA) with third countries that would benefit the UK first and foremost.

Turkey hasn't been in an advantageous position when it comes to its trade relationship with the EU bloc. Recognized by British lawmakers as "almost unbelievably asymmetrical," the shortcomings of the customs union à la Turque were also outlined in the ‘Hard Brexit ahead' report.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, is greeted by European Council President Donald Tusk prior to a meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Oct. 5, 2015.

"Turkey is obliged to align its trade policies to EU trade policies, as a customs union of course requires a common external tariff (CET). Specifically, whenever the EU signs a free trade agreement with any third country, Turkey is required to adopt all tariff reductions against this third country as well. In short, Turkey is a rule-taker," the economists explained.

They argued that the proposed European Customs Association between UK and the member states of the EU is theoretically convincing. What stands in the way is the "critical issue of political feasibility."

An anti-Brexit activist wears a hat covered in badges reading "Brexit: Not going well is it?" as she demonstrates opposite the Houses of Parliament in London on January 29, 2019.

In other words, it is unclear and quite concerning as the clock is running down, whether London and Brussels will ultimately give up their red lines and their ultimatums in order to prevent an EU member crashing out from the bloc for the first time in history and without a deal on its hands.

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.